2.3. Windows Shell Functions

The Windows Shell is the container that displays all user interface elements in Windows and is defined in shell32.dll. The Shell includes such items as the Desktop, Start menu, Windows Explorer, task bar, dialog boxes and message boxes, and so on. In addition to being at the core of the Windows operating system, it exposes some really cool API functions!

The following sections contain a very small subset of functions that are defined in the Shell. Some of this functionality is also defined in the FileSystemObject object, which is defined as a part of the Microsoft Scripting Runtime reference. Using API functions to create the same functionality allows you to remove a reference to this library!